LinkedIn Activity Guidelines: 4 steps

February 19, 2025 | CareerAngels | International Job Hunting

LinkedIn Activity Guidelines: 4 steps

According to Hootsuite, SocialMediaToday and LinkedIn themselves, the platform has more than 1 billion users worldwide, out of which around 400 million are monthly active users. 80% of LinkedIn users “drive business decisions”. On average, 6 people are hired via LinkedIn each minute, 67 million companies are listed here, and a single ad can reach 14.1% of the world’s population. And that’s only a snippet of data that shows how powerful a tool LinkedIn has become.

And yet, there are still many professionals (incl. managers & executives) who find it difficult to use this incredible platform to its full extent. They need help not only in creating but also in managing their LinkedIn profiles and activity. How can they achieve this?

There are 4 main steps to follow.

Step 1: Define Your Goal And Call To Action (CTA)

Before you even begin to think about what to put in your profile, you need to plan it well and ask yourself the following questions:

  • What is the purpose of your LinkedIn profile?
  • Who should find it attractive / interesting?
  • What action do you want them to take once they’ve read it?
  • Which language is important to your target group? English or local?

Let’s have a look at some examples, divided on the basis of the goal, target group and desired call to action.

Person A = Job Seeker
Goal: to find a new job (important: well-defined function & industry)
Target group: recruiters, headhunters
Desired CTA: to have them ask for a CV (maybe even interviews)

Person B = Looking for clients
Goal: to find new clients (important: well-defined target group)
Target group: depending on the industry
Desired CTA: to have them ask for an offer

Person C = Expert
Goal: to position yourself as an expert (important: well-defined field)
Target group: anyone interested in your field of expertise
Desired CTA: to get requests for articles, comments, speaking engagements

Only after you answer these fundamental questions can you effectively prepare your profile.

Step 2: Prepare A Flawless Profile

We have written on the topic extensively. Here are some materials to help you (read & apply all of them):

How to create a solid LinkedIn profile: a step-by-step guide on creating a well-thought-out, professional profile

LinkedIn for Job Seekers: tips for utilizing LinkedIn for your job search effectively and with intent

Are you a needle in a haystack on LinkedIn?: insights into the mind of a recruiter – find out how to adjust your profile and activity to make yourself findable on the platform

Step 3: Prepare & Execute An Activity Strategy

1) Choose min. 10 companies that fit your strategy and produce good content relatively regularly, e.g. 10 companies that:

  • you would like to work for
  • will help you position yourself as an expert
  • you would like to partner with
  • are market leaders and produce valuable content
  • …

2) Follow those companies.

  • Tip: choose the most relevant decision-makers within those companies and follow them too.

LinkedIn Activity Guidelines

Based on ALGORITHM INSIGHTS 2024

 

Content Creation

To maintain effectiveness of your activity on the platform, plan 3-4 days a week for content publication. Following a regular posting pattern is much better than burst-posting over a short period and then staying silent for the following week. Here are other rules to follow:

  • Post only once every 24 hours so as not to divide the reach between multiple posts.
  • LinkedIn counts the “share with thoughts” feature as fresh content – make use of that!
  • Make sure that the tagged people / companies react to your post. Otherwise your post might be marked as SPAM, significantly slowing down the growth of your post.
  • For best reach, write content with the optimal length of 900 – 1,200 characters.

Engagement

Remember to drive engagement to your posts by connecting with your audience in the comment section, and even commenting on your own! Posting a comment after the first hour since publication essentially refreshes your post for a number of your connections.

Tip: Likes are currently the least effective features creating impressions. Re-posts are ten times as effective. Thank people personally via a message for sharing your content, especially if you are not yet connected to them.

Hashtags

For the best results, add 3-5 hashtags to every post, and always make sure that half of them are unique (<10k followers) and half are popular (>10k followers). Additionally, tag people with:

  • Intent → If you are not connected to the person you’re tagging, use the tag as a pretext for a connection request.
  • Optimism → Use the feature as a means of expressing gratitude and celebrating successes.
  • Mindfulness → Choose people to tag who are likely to re-share your post.

Sharing

Try to get your post instantly re-posted (“without thoughts”) by someone outside your company within the first 4 hours since publication. Once shared, engage with the content quickly to garner more impressions under your original post.

Note: When sharing content, use different hashtags than the original post.

Comments

For best reach, write comments that contain more than 15 words. Remember not to engage in controversy. Instead, comment for the following reasons:

  • linking relevant resources,
  • providing valuable insights,
  • asking meaningful questions,
  • expressing your thoughts regarding the content,
  • congratulating and celebrating the original poster for their successes.

AI Tools

Due to an overabundance of AI content on LinkedIn, such activity has seen a massive drop in reach and engagement. This is true especially for:

  • generative hooks and calls-to-action common to AI content,
  • AI-generated images (70% fewer clicks!),
  • comments written by AI.

In general, AI activity works great for network growth, but doesn’t translate as well to personal messaging and longevity of connections. Find the right balance between using AI and original content creation.

Type Of Content

1) When to post content of each type:

  • Graphics with text, text-only posts: Mon – Fri; 8:00 – 10:30 am
  • Guides in video format: Tue – Thu; 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
  • Document PDFs, carousels: weekdays, esp. Tuesdays and Thursdays
  • Polls, job-related posts: weekdays, 8 a.m. – 11:00 p.m.
  • Personal posts (storytelling): weekend

2) Which content format to use for which purpose:

  • Personal Storytelling: Text Only / Text + Image
  • Thought Leadership: Video / Document Post
  • Event Content: Video / Text + Image
  • Educational Content: Text Only / Document Post
  • Industry-Related Content: External Link / Text + Image
  • Employer Branding: Video / Document Post

Other Tips

  • After connecting with someone, make sure to interact with their activity at least for the next two weeks to keep them in your feed.
  • Send relevant messages to your connections – once they reply, they are more likely to see your content on their feed.
  • Find a way to make people visit your profile – this will lead to 50% more content from you on their feed.

Common Mistakes

  • Adding external links in the 1st comment. If you have to redirect people away from the platform, add the link to the original post after publication.
  • Too many hashtags. Stick to 3-5 hashtags per post.
  • Overtagging people. For best reach, tag up to 4 people who are sure to engage with the post.
  • Overusining AI. Use AI tools sparingly, and always add your own personal touch.

Step 4: Prior To Starting

1) At first, commit yourself to 90 days of proper activity only.

2) Choose 1 or 2 fixed posting days per week & stick to them.

3) Prepare a table with:

  • # of contacts
  • # of followers
  • # of calls-to-action in the last 90 days
  • average # of posts per month
  • average # of articles per month

4) Fill out the table on Day 1 and then on Day 90.

LinkedIn Activity – Review Your Strategy

After three months you should see measurable results. If not, review your profile and assess whether what you publish is attractive to your target group.

Are you struggling with preparing a flawless LinkedIn profile? If you are an experienced manager with at least 10 years of experience, feel free to request a LinkedIn Report with feedback on all your sections, or a complimentary Career Consultation to discuss your strategy.